Though the issue with the class was mostly resolved, some tension remained the next day. Momo particularly felt that Jiro was still upset with her. She couldn't understand why that was.

Meanwhile, Shine spoke to Aizawa about Eri. "Would it be possible to watch her more while we are at the dorms?" she asked, "I want to be able to supervise the class more, and she's not lost control of her quirk in a long time." 

Eri's horn was pretty much gone now.

Aizawa shrugged. "It would be fine, I suppose. I watch her around there anyway. I just... think the class might frighten her a little."

"But she'll have to get used to being around larger groups of people, Aizawa, and they understand the situation better than anyone else will," Shine said.

"To be honest, I'm the most worried about Bakugo," Aizawa confessed without any emotion, "He's aggressive, and that could startle her."

"Well, I will talk to him," Shine said.

"And you think he'll listen to you?" Aizawa said.

"Well, if he doesn't, he won't listen to you either," Shine replied roundly, "and not with that attitude. Come now, it'll take the pressure off us all, and it'll make her feel more normal too."

"You can try it for one day at a time, and if you avoid any unpleasant incidents, I don't see a reason to object," Aizawa shrugged.

"For real, though, why don't you just legally adopt?" Shine said.

"Get out of my office!" Aizawa snapped, curling into his sleeping bag.

Shine left still laughing over that reaction.

And so, later that day, the students were shocked to see Eri in their common area, though no one dared express it except Bakugo, who began to yell, "What the--?" But Shine portaled him outside right away. 

Eri had only time to look up, startled.

"Sorry, sweetie, that was my bad for not warning him. He's just scared," Shine told her.

Eri nodded. "I get scared too... Is he scared because of me?"

"No, he's scared because he probably thought something bad happened outside," Shine said, "Don't worry about it. I'll explain it to him, and he won't be scared anymore."

Eri nodded.

"If you guys could just wait here for a second. I need to go talk to Bakugo," Shine said to the others, who stared at her.

"Uh... what is this?" Jiro hissed.

"Maybe they're going to start watching her here now," Mina said.

"Oh, now that's too much pressure!" Mineta whined, "Aizawa will kill me if I say anything bad around Eri!"

"Then maybe it's a good idea," Mina said roundly.

Outside, Shine found Bakugo angrily kicking a tree. "Sorry about that, but you can't scream around Eri, okay? At all. She's very easily startled. She's gotten a bit more used to it, but you're... well... a lot to adjust to for anyone."

"The frick is that brat doing here?" Bakugo demanded.

"I'm going to watch her here," Shine said, "That way I can do both my jobs. And I'll have you know, I staked my credit with Aizawa on you not being a problem by scaring her, because I believe you're perfectly capable of understanding the situation. So, I need you to not make me look bad by blowing up just to spite me, okay?"

"You shouldn't have done that," Bakugo scoffed, "and why am I the big concern here? Talk to that Grape Sucker." 

"Please, don't ever call him that again," Shine said, "and you... well... you don't seem very comfortable around kids, so, I thought, maybe she'd make you a little nervous, and you might retaliate that way."

"What? I'm totally fine around kids!" Bakugo lied. It was obviously a lie if anyone had seen him in remedial, which Shine hadn't.

"Eri's a real sweetheart, though," Shine said, "and you've got nothing to be worried about as long as you keep it down. And don't say anything about killing people around her. Please. I mean, she might not take it seriously, but Aizawa will probably not be happy if she starts using that lingo...or any lingo..."

"Doesn't sound like you thought this out," Bakugo said.

"It's the simplest solution to what's a really annoying problem," Shine replied, "and if you want us to make good on our word, you'll have to cooperate so we have time and energy to do it. Now, no more arguing. I know you'll do it because you're smart enough to do the rational thing in this instance, and I don't need to nag you about it or remind you of it later or mention it to anyone else, because we understand each other perfectly."

She winked and went back inside.

Bakugo kicked the innocent tree one more time just to blow off steam, but when he did go in, he didn't yell at anyone. He just stalked around in his usual sullen silence. Eri still seemed a little nervous, but Shine soon distracted her by showing her around the dorms, which interested her because everyone had such cool stuff in their rooms.

Her favorite was Kirishima's because he had so much work out stuff, which to a 6 year old looked like big toys. Kirishima said she shouldn't play with them because it could hurt her, but he let her punch his punching bag. 

Her second favorite was Sato's because he had sweets all over it. Sato let her have a cupcake.

Shine explained to the class between all this that Aizawa had okayed it. Most of them were fine with it. A few weren't sure they wanted a kid around in their down time, but it would have been majorly uncool to say that out loud.

"For now, we'll take it slow." Shine held up a stack of books. "You have a lot of homework, and I have a lot of time I have to spend with Eri right now. So, we'll have to work around that. I think your number one problem right now is you don't know very much about the world around you. And all understanding usually starts with your own world. So, I want you to learn about that."

"And what are these books?" Momo looked at the covers.

"These are recommendations from my dear friend, Emi," Shine said, "She sent me a list when I asked how I could quickly read up on modern culture. I think she probably did a internet search herself, but I can't read Japanese. So... Anyway, these are my English copies, but if you could pick at least one and read it, we can start with that."

"But what will this accomplish?" Todoroki said.

"All good teachers start with what you know already, Todoroki," Shine said, "I want to know what you know. This will help me learn that... and, if you feel it's not helping, be honest about that. But all I'm asking is you give my method a shot for a week or so before writing it off."

"That's fair," Momo agreed. 

Of course it would a small matter for her. She could read an average sized book in one day if she tried.

"Okay..." Todoroki sighed. Perhaps he'd hoped for something a bit more exciting.

Shine smiled like she knew what they were thinking.

"Is Bakugo going to do this also?" Momo asked.

"Bakugo's an interesting case, but we'll see." Shine said.

Shine "saw" by telling Bakugo that Momo and Todoroki were both taking on the extra task of trying her idea, and she was leaving it open for him whether he felt he could handle more work right now, with all the training. Of course, that guaranteed he would say yes. But if he knew she was doing this, he obviously didn't mind it enough to call her on it. Shine suspected it was the only way he could ever concede to people without feeling like he was being a pushover.

Momo got through the next few days with relative ease, considering the tension and her extra work. The course work got extra challenging that week too, but she did well. It might have been just as well the DJs has stopped participating in training, since Midnight participated in some of the simulations, and she pretty clearly had not forgiven Shine for her remarks, as evidenced by her disgusted sniff if any student chanced to bring her up.

The book Momo chose was a brief summary of the changes quirks had made in society. She already knew some of it from school... but there was some stuff that school had not really covered. The focus on quirks had led to a decline in medicine that focused on diseases and more that focused on modifying and controlling powers. She knew something about that, but the statistics were shocking at how fast it had happened. Quirks were almost like an epidemic. Another fact that was surprising in how fast it happened, was the change in religion quirks had caused. Whole cults had formed saying quirks were evil, of the devil, and sign of the end times.... That was 80 years ago, but the cults had lasted even to 40 year ago, until All Might's popularity, in fact. There was a part at the end of that chapter that mentioned they might still exist in the shadows, especially in countries where people were more diverse in their worldviews. Another facet of that chapter was that religious belief itself had plummeted with the popularity of quirks. And this note in the book gave a reason why, "It's not that surprising. With the appearance of so many god-like beings on this planet, what reason did people have to look up anymore?"

The book was not anti-quirk by any means, and Momo didn't feel uncomfortable reading it. There was one section near the end that mentioned that in some parts of the world, quirks had only made a small change to the culture, particularly places where there were more tribal societies than huge communities. Quirks had not changed the politics of these places or most of the laws.

Momo had never spent much time thinking about the part of the world not affected by quirks. After she finished the book, she asked Todoroki what he thought about his choice. "What was it about?"

"Mine? It was about how hero society changed over time," he said, "I see why Likstar was reading it-- It would help if you didn't know much about it. Though I think they assume you do."

Momo told him about her findings in much more detail than he used (that was literally his whole summary). Todoroki thought it was interesting. "Maybe I should read that one too... When did she find time to read all of this?"

"She's always reading in the  mornings. She has a lot of free time before she and Wally switch shifts," Momo said, "Honestly... some things she's said about society clicked after reading it, like why she doesn't think quirks are as important as we do. To some people, I guess they really aren't."

"I heard 1 out of 5 people still don't have one," Todoroki said, "I wonder what they think about it."

"I imagine it would be hard, to be different," Momo said, "but I never think about it much..." She paused uncomfortably. "Uh... you know, what she said, about needing to know the world around us first... did you feel... embarrassed at all that you hadn't heard some of this?"

"I never had time to study it," Todoroki said, "My dad taught me about quirks, not history, and whatever else I read, it wasn't usually about that... It wasn't wasn't exactly what I wanted to think about. But I don't feel embarrassed."

"Uh... I guess that makes sense," Momo said, "I guess, for me, it's just... well, I always know all the answers in class, I mean usually [it was always], and yet, if anyone quizzed me on these subjects, I wouldn't have had a clue how to answer it."

"No one knows everything though," Todoroki said, "and why do we need to know this to learn about them?"

"Well... let's think about it. Isn't it like, we have to see things their way, like what did they have to learn first? Maybe so we know where they're coming from," Momo said. 

That seemed like a reasonable explanation.

When they talked to Shine later about it, she said that was part of it. "Not my real reason, but it will help you with that too. Think bigger though."

"What was your book about, Bakugo?" Todoroki asked.

"None of your d--- business!" Bakugo said.

"Bakugo really challenged himself," Shine said proudly, "He read one I got about the psychological and physiological effects quirks had on people. Like, did you know, some experts think certain quirks make you more prone to mental illness? Others to other health problems. And also, how the obsession with quirks changed what a lot of people focused on in art and entertainment."

"It wasn't that much of a challenge," Bakugo frowned.

"That sounds unpleasant," Todoroki said, for obvious reasons.

"But it was fascinating," Shine said, "I've been places where people were obsessed with history to the point where they all could recite theirs from memory-- and each other's... and it was terrible, in a way. But at least you knew why things were the way they were. Here, it's like none of you even know history. I wanted to learn about it, but after looking around, I got the impression those  kinds of books are not very promoted. These ones were all from America and Europe, by the way. I suppose that was easier for me. Was it hard finding copies?"

"It was a bit, but I just had to pay extra shipping costs," Momo said, "I got it express."

"Express? In one day? What did you do, get it dropped from a plane with a parachute?" Shine asked.

Momo looked at her oddly.

"I found it at the school library," Bakugo said stiffly.

[Before someone gets on me for making Japan look bad, All Might and Gran Torino tell us on the show that a lot of history has been repressed from the last 80 years, so I am not making this up. I'm just expanding it. Also, this is a fictional version of Japan, and we know from the Two Heroes movie that America's standards are looser on quirks than Japan's in this wold, so I'm not picking on Japan.]

After a pause, Momo said, "Shine, I think you may already know more than the average person about all of this, because, to be truthful, I didn't know a lot of it myself. Is that pathetic?"

"You've confirmed my suspicions that it's not taught," Shine said, "but it's not really your fault, is it? You've been preparing to be hero since you were a kid. I'm sure there wasn't much time to focus on other things between all the weapons training, the quirk training, the quirk law..."

"How did you know about all that?" Momo asked.

"I'm not stupid enough to think you were just born being good at all that, that's how," Shine said, "I'm sorry, is it really so hard to put it together? You all are like Olympian athletes used to be where I come from. And comparing you to the more mediocre heroes out there, it's easy to see why people get into UA: they prep for it... The real miracle is how someone like Midoriya ever got in this school."

"Why do you say that?" Todoroki said, while Bakugo gave Shine a sharp look.

"Why, one look at him in training, and anyone can see how much more rough he is than the rest of you," Shine said easily, not as if she saw anything remarkable about it, "I can't understand it. The rest of you have all the skills you bring to the table and understanding of your powers and fighting training, and he acts like he's never done any of this before this year. I feel like All Might must have discovered him or something."

"You see that too?" Todoroki got way too excited. "It's like they're related or something, isn't it? I asked him though, and he said he's not his love child."

"You asked him that?!" Momo almost choked in horror.

"Yeah, isn't that a little insensitive?" Shine said.

"Is it?" Todoroki said, like it was a novel thought.

Shine just laughed at him. "Well, I think All Might just likes Deku. Similar personalities, maybe. Anyway, Wally is going to take it from here. I'm off, kiddos."

"Wait, what's he going to do? We didn't talk to him at all about it," Todoroki asked.

"Wally is a spontaneous kind of guy, not like me, so I'm sure I have no idea," Shine said, walking away.

"Great," Bakugo muttered sarcastically.

Wally didn't have any learning materials for them. Instead, he made them walk around school with him and take a look at the classes that were not in the hero course. "I just want to know, can you name any of them?" he asked.

"Uh... no..." Todoroki said.

"They don't matter," Bakugo said, "Why are we wasting our time doing this, clown?"

"Hey, kid, just so you know, I said you weren't ready for this, and Shine lobbied for letting you try anyway," Wally said, a little annoyed, "so please, shut up."

Bakugo glared at him.

"Is the point that we don't know much about other students?" Momo asked.

"I mean, do you know much about the school outside the hero course?" Wally asked.

She shook her head.

Wally nodded. "Really, I think heroes should know about people. Especially ones they aren't likely to run into by accident. I mean, you guys are the top of the food chain, but, you know, it's not like it's always going to be that simple. Just saying."

"But how does it help us to know about the other courses?" Todoroki asked.

"What kind of question is that?" Wally said, "Are heroes just supposed to think about what helps them? Geez, for such nice kids you sure can be self absorbed."

That remark kind of hurt, but it was hard to argue the point if he was presenting them with proof right there that they knew nothing about the other classes.

The following day, at lunch Shine and Eri joined the girls... and surprisingly, Shine brought someone else. Mei Hatsumei. (Apparently Shine often stopped at the lab to look at Mei's gadgets, as well as other Support students', and Mei had started to remember her name.) Probably because she wanted an excuse to go off about that. She brought some "babies" with her, though the 1-A girls said she wasn't supposed to have them in the cafeteria, and that Lunch Rush would catch them. Mei seemed to be adept at hiding them just before he looked their direction though. She didn't join the conversion but just sat there tinkering, and all the hero girls felt she just made it awkward, but Shine acted natural and occasionally talked to her. Eri was was quiet with so many strangers around, but she didn't act as nervous as before.

 Unexpectedly, after that, Hatsumei didn't stop joining them for meals on occasion. Even when Shine was not sitting with them. She seemed to assume they'd be okay with this, and no one was mean enough to tell her otherwise. She still pulled out gadgets whenever no staff were watching. One kept giving her trouble. Momo suggested using a different kind of battery or switching some circuits. Hatsumei frowned and shrugged. Momo thought no more about it, but the next day while she was in the hallway with the rest of 1-A, Hatsumei came charging through the fray.

"Hey, smart chick!" She yanked Momo's wrist and held up the device. "It worked! How'd you know that?"

Momo wrung out her hand. "It was just similar to some things I've made, is all. I have to remember this stuff in order to use my quirk."

"This stuff?" Hatsumei sounded offended. "Those are precious babies I live my life for! And I need your help--" She began dragging Momo down the hall. "There's this device I can't get to work properly..."

"Wait!" Momo, with effort, freed herself. 

The whole hallway was staring at her! Mina and Hagakure were not helping. They were trying not to laugh. Uraraka was wavering between amused and concerned. Midoriya was staring in wonder, like Hatsumei was a science project about to explode. The rest of the guys looked weirded out. The few people from other classes seemed puzzled.

 "I have class."

"It's lunch period!" Hatsumei said, as if that was better.

"But I... haven't had lunch," Momo protested, "and I don't think I can help you. It's against the rules."

"Pfft! I'm not asking you to touch anything!-- Actually I will end you if you harm one of my babies! But you can look." Hatsumei was either totally oblivious to the scene she was making or she reveled in it. Hard to say. Momo considered giving in just to get out of sight.

Then a much calmer voice cut in. "Could you be any more thoughtless? She said no." Shinso! Why was he getting involved?

Hatsumei frowned. "No, she didn't."

"Come on Momo," Jiro said dryly, "Tell her no."

"Yeah," Sero and Mineta and Kaminari and a business student all said.

 Momo was going to say something along that line, but for a brief second she saw Hatsumei's expression flicker, like she was slowly realizing everyone in the hall was down on her methods of persuasion. It was doubtful she'd let this bother her but---She doesn't have any friends, Shine had observed that after the first day. Momo realized the silence had been awkwardly drawn out. Hatsumei started to shrug and back up.

"Okay," Momo blurted without planning to, "I think I can spare 10 minutes. As long as it's not against the rules."

Almost everyone's jaw dropped.

"Great!" Hatsumei's crazy gleam returned, full force. "Right this way." She led her off, leaving some amused and irritated students.

"So, she's ditching us for Support now," Jiro muttered. 

"I take it your classmate likes to have projects," snickered the business student. Wrong thing to say to class 1-A.

"Shut the h---- up, you moron!" Bakugo snapped, freaking the guy out, "Class 1-A's the best because we're good at everything ! Got it, loser?!"

"Okay." Kirishima tried to step in. "Uh, what he means is, don't talk about our classmate like that."

"Typical Hero Course." The student walked away in disgust.

"Shinso," Midoriya asked as everyone was clearing away, "why did you get involved?" He implied, why did you try to help?

Shinso was looking after Momo and Hatsumei oddly. "Hrmf," he sort of chuckled, "interesting." Then, noticing Midoriya's question, he shrugged. "Figured she needed someone to bail her out. Looks like I was mistaken."

Midoriya wondered why it was odd, since Momo had done only what he himself would have without thinking about it.

Momo didn't think she was being much help to Hatsumei, but the girl was far less rude about it than usual. She was actually oddly subdued.

 "You ever invent?" she asked Momo, while adjusting the device in question. 

"No... Well, sort of. I more of put a new twist on things other people have made." She tapped the table. "Like, I could make this out of steel or tungsten or titanium or rubber, if I wanted to."

"You could insulate anything!" Hatsumei's eyes bugged out. "Oh, the possibilities! If I had your quirk, I could take my gadgets to a whole new level! You should be in Support!"

"No, I like the hero course," Momo said, but she knew it was a compliment of sorts, "I think I can utilize all my talents being a hero. It's more than just a quirk."

"Pshaw, duh," Hatsumei said, "It's having the right tools." She grabbed a pair of pliers.

"And skill..." Momo said.

 "Yeah, whatever. All the power and skill in the world doesn't mean you're not human, and your quirk's expendable. Gotta have back up," Hatsumei shrugged. 

Momo really looked at her for a second.

Power Loader, who was tinkering at the far end of the room, looked up. "But machines are just hunks of metal. Without someone to use them, they don't have any real value. Yaoyurozu uses objects wisely because she sees the bigger picture; if she only looked at what a thing was made for and ignored the situation and people in it, she'd be severely held back." 

Momo was stunned. Hatsumei rolled her eyes at the wall. 

"You need to listen to people," Power Loader said pointedly, clearly guessing her reaction from experience. 

"People are so--err!" Hatsumei complained, "Machines make sense and don't get all squiffy if you make one little mistake..." Her device started smoking.

"Your coating wasn't thick enough," Momo said offhandedly. 

"Oh, was that it?" Hatsumei scrutinized it. "Guess the power cell fixed it. Oh, I didn't factor in..." She began using a lot of technical terms, which Momo would've followed along with just fine, but she heard someone come in.

It was Shinso.

"Not a hero!" Power Loader called.

"Ten minutes?" Shinso gave Momo a dry look. "Lunch is half over."

"You again?" Hatsumei glanced up irritatedly. "Unless you changed your mind about that jet-pack, you've got no business interrupting quality time with--"

"Do you ever stop?" Shinso interrupted. 

"As a---" She froze, eyes glazed over.

Power Loader looked over. "You shouldn't be using your quirk like that, Shinso." It was barely a reprove from his tone.

"I needed a minute of silence," Shinso said drolly.

 Momo moved toward the door.

"I guess I should go," Shinso sighed, "Yeah... walk out." He looked over at Power Loader. "Just need a minute." 

"Fine..." Power Loader sighed.

 Hatsumei walked out of the room like she was in a trance. Momo followed uneasily. Shinso did something, and Hatsumei snapped out of it.

 "Why, you! How dare--?!" She took a wild swing at him, which he blocked surprisingly easily. 

"I guess I can't blame you," he said, like she was a specimen in a lab, "I'd be mad too." 

"Mad! No one messes with my work schedule!" Hatsumei was livid. 

"Hatsumei," Momo said, "I think Shinso had something on his mind."

"Well, so did I before I got brainwashed," she said. 

Ouch. 

Shinso winced. "Sorry about that, but it was the only way." 

Hatsumei, now that she'd got that jab out of her system, seemed to be cooling off. "What?" she said, crossing her arms impatiently.

 "I'll make this brief." Shinso glanced at both of them. "Your actions earlier (Yaoyurozu's) made me feel ashamed of myself."

"It did?" Momo didn't even remember saying anything to him. 

"It was because I was trying to do the right thing and help, and yet your response showed how woefully off the mark I was." Shinso nodded at Hatsumei, who looked intrigued for once.

"Looking good in front of a group, even your own class, is something every hero wants. It's a test of how well we can win over public favor. It's clearly not something Hatsumei cares about in the least-- she doesn't really have to, but you and I do. We want to be heroes. So when she caused a scene, I had an opportunity to look like someone who could diffuse it. But you did something different: you saw how it would look even to the person making you look bad, and you chose their feelings over your own."

Momo stared at him. As much as she could analyze everyone else's actions, breaking down her own like that never occurred to her unless it was to see a mistake.

"So I owe both of you an apology for what I said," Shinso said regretfully, "I realize if I'm to be a hero, I'll have to treat people the right way now. I think I see things too narrowly. I'm guilty of what I've always disliked in other people."

"Oh, no," Momo hastened to say, "You were just trying to help. I knew that."

"Yeah, Braindrain," Hatsumei said dismissively, "This is getting weird. I don't care about stuff like that."

"With all due respect, that's a lie," Shinso said.

Hatsumei frowned. "You can't read minds too, can you?"

"No."

"Then you can't know that for sure! Anyway, my baby's calling." Hatsumei had already forgotten the conversation's point. She went back into the lab. 

Shinso just turned around and went off down the hall.

Momo had to run to get to class.